世論 What Japan Thinks

This survey will perhaps go some way to solving one of the greatest mysteries to foreign visitors to these climes, namely do all Japanese do the peace sign when getting their photo taken. This is the subject that iShare addressed.

Demographics

Between the 28th of August and the 2nd of September 2009 521 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 53.6% of the sample were male, 34.0% in their twenties, 31.9% in their thirties, and 34.2% in their forties.

It’s a bit late to write a comment, so let’s just go straight to the survey! Click on the photos to go to the original on flickr.

Research Results

Q1: Do you like getting your photo taken? (Sample size=521)

	All	Male N=279	Female N=242
Love it	2.9%	2.5%	3.3%
Like it	22.8%	20.1%	26.0%
Dislike it	48.2%	52.0%	43.8%
Hate it	26.1%	25.4%	26.9%

Q2: What sort of expression do you most often have when getting your photo taken? (Sample size=521)

		All	Male N=279	Female N=242
Grinning, no teeth		52.2%	49.5%	55.4%
Smiling, with teeth		17.7%	13.3%	22.7%
Pulling a face		7.9%	7.2%	8.7%
Other		1.2%	0.7%	1.7%
Expressionless		21.1%	29.4%	11.6%

Q3: What sort of pose do you most often take when getting your photo taken? (Sample size=521)

		All	Male N=279	Female N=242
One-handed peace sign		22.3%	19.0%	26.0%
Guts pose		2.1%	3.6%	0.4%
One-handed reverse peace		1.7%	1.1%	2.5%
Two-handed peace sign		1.7%	1.1%	2.5%
Open palm to camera		1.5%	0.7%	2.5%
Two-handed reverse peace		0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Other		5.4%	4.3%	6.6%
Don’t pose		65.3%	70.3%	59.5%

Q4: When you were a child, did you ever get a photo taken of you imitating a superhero, anime character, pop star’s pose? (Sample size=521)

	All	Male N=279	Female N=242
Yes	11.9%	13.6%	9.9%
No	88.1%	86.4%	90.1%